Flexures are well-known in the art, and may be used for positional adjustment of optical elements or devices as well as for performing light scanning, steering, or switching operations. Flexures have a variety of other uses also including holding test instruments or objects being tested.
The maximum tilt angle of a flexure may be limited by the tendency of the flexure to yield when tilted too far. A flexure is said to “yield” when it no longer returns to its original position after being tilted, i.e., when it begins to deform plastically rather than elastically.
In a prior flexure design, a neck around which the device pivots is situated in a block of elastic material between a pair of cylindrical openings of circular cross-section. It was found that the usefulness of the flexure was limited because yielding occurred before the required tilt angle was reached. It was still more difficult to use such a flexure for active applications such as scanning where fatigue was a factor.